News

2 December 2008: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative that convened in Hong Kong, China, from 2-3 December 2008, in a video message. He underlined the interrelations between the financial turmoil, accelerating climate change, persistent poverty and hunger, and called on the Asia-Pacific region to play a “leading role” in averting a “human catastrophe.”

Noting progress achieved by Asia in terms of economic growth and

development, he stated that the region has offered valuable lessons to

the rest of the world. However, he underscored that much remains to be

done in terms of fighting poverty and reducing greenhouse gas

emissions. He stated that Asia's “urgent challenge” is to “foster

economic growth” while “minimizing the impact on climate change and the

environment.” Ban added that “green growth” has the potential to create